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Veepstakes: Jindal's awkward pause

AYOTTE: The Boston Herald interviewed New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte: “In a sneak peek at a potential fall showdown, New Hampshire U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte said tangling with Vice President Joe Biden on a debate stage ‘would be quite enjoyable’ and poked fun at Biden’s foot-in-mouth malady. ‘The vice president does have a way with words,’” she said. Of being veep, she said: “It’s certainly an honor to be mentioned for consideration as vice president, but serving New Hampshire in the Senate is the greatest honor I could ask for.”

And: “I think Gov. Romney is going to pick who he thinks is best and he will do that not worried about the gender of the person or what their particular background is, except for when it comes to qualifications,” she said. “I think that anyone who is nominated to serve as vice president will expect there will be tremendous media scrutiny on them.”

JINDAL: Awwwkward: GOP 12: “On The Daily Rundown, Chuck Todd asks Bobby Jindal if he'd be Mitt Romney's running mate. Jindal runs through some talking points; then Todd notes ‘Governor, that's not a denial. You know that, right?’ Bobby then smiles (see screencap above) and does nothing else, making this the most uncomfortable pause since Jim Irsay asked Peyton Manning if he wanted to be Andrew Luck's backup.”

RUBIO: “Sen. Marco Rubio on Wednesday blamed Washington’s inability to produce a comprehensive immigration policy on Democrats who prefer that the issue remain unresolved so they can continue to leverage it to win the Hispanic vote,” Politico writes. Rubio said on FOX: “I think there are some people in the Democratic Party that think that the immigration issue’s more valuable to them unsolved, that it gives them something to talk about, that they can go back to Hispanic communities and make unrealistic promises every two years and win votes.”

It’s worth pointing out, however, that Democrats were just a few votes short of passing the DREAM Act, which was blocked by Republicans.